Charlestown woman saw sinking of Titanic
Western People, 2nd January 2001, by the Late Mick O'Connell.

One of the nicest people it has ever been my pleasure to talk to comes from Arderra, Charlestown, and is in her 86th year. She is Mrs. Catherine Durkan, formerly Miss Catherine McCormack and she has a vivid recollection of happy episodes and one harrowing experience in her long and eventful life. Catherine or Katie, as she is affectionately known, was attending Lowpark national School in or around the year 1904 on the occasion of the County Feis n Charlestown which was attended by many Irish scholars including Dr. Douglas Hyde who later became the first President of Ireland. A special Irish competition in conjunction with the Feis was held in the schools throughout the Diocese of Achonry and Katie Durkan takes great pride in the fact that she was the first prize winner in the competition. She says that she received her prize of £10 (a lot of money in those days) from the hands of Dr. Hyde himself who at that time was spearheading the Irish revival movement. She remembers Dr.Hyde congratulating her and speaking to her in Irish.

Katie was proficient in Irish because her father Mr. John McCormack and her grandmother were fluent Irish speakers. She also said that her father was a great singer (shades of her great namesake).

Katie went on to relate that her teachers in Lowpark at that time included Mr. and Mrs. John Doherty, she says "was trained in Parish and prepared a number of school choirs which won prizes at several feiseanna.

She recalls that the feis she referred to was not confined to music, singing and dancing competitions but also contained a section for the display of ancient Irish crafts, and there were also competitions in butter making, basket weaving, etc.

Katie traveled to America with her sister Mary on the Carmania (according to her recollection in 1912 and later we will hear from her about the sinking of the Titanic).

Regard for Cardinal Glennon: She secured employment in the house of a very rich lady - the wife of Judge Adams- in Saint Louis. She traveled extensively throughout the U.S. with the Adams family and remembers attending the Eucharistic congress in Chicago in 1928 or thereabouts. She had a very special regard for Cardinal Glennon Archbishop of St. Louis, who was a native of Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath, and who died at Aras an Uachtaran in Dublin when he was a guest of T. O'Kelly on his return from Rome after receiving a Red Had sometime in the '50's. Katie returned home to her native Arderra in 1930 to visit her mother intending to stay at home and marry a neighbour Michael Durkan later the same year and they attended the Eucharistic Congress in 1932. Her mother lived for a further 11 years after Katie's husband died after they had spent a "happy life together."

Her most depressing experience was in mid-Atlantic during the voyage to New York in 1912 when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of over a thousand souls.

Account of the Disaster: Here in her own words is her story: "I was a passenger on the Carmania which was the first and only vessel to arrive at the scene of the disaster. The hour was around midnight and we all had retired for the night. Suddenly we heard a great commotion and people were rushing around outside. We went up on deck to see members of the crew lined along the railing of the vessel standing shoulder to shoulder and all of them were armed. We were not allowed near the railings. I could see from my position people who tried to escape from the ill-fated Titanic floundering in the ocean which was calm. The life boats went out rescuing people as they came upon them. The Titanic which had listed over was close by and was slowly sinking out of site. We returned to our sleeping quarters and prayed for all the passengers of the Titanic who were lost." Katie described the witnessing of the disaster as a terrible heartbreaking experience. She added: "That night was the saddest night of my life. I still cry about it to this day."